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Are you maximising the value of your social media strategy? - Brand Republic



Social Media - Focus Groups Borat Vs. Kazakhstan Social Media - Focus Groups
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Is the focus group dead?
 
 Social media may not be seen as a decisive tool to replace focus groups, rather it could be seen as a complementary (and not substitute) platform to conduct focus group surveys. Granted, had Tropicana listened to chatters in blogs, a costly packaging fiasco could have been avoided. Yet, it cannot be denied that the package architect, Peter Arnell (CEO of Arnell Group) has his tremendous insights and homework infused into the carton design of Tropicana. So what went wrong? The customers at large did not think the way the designer might have thought based on designer’s own indoor focus group survey! While indoor surveys can reveal important dimensions of customers’ attitude, supplementing this with “next stage” social media surveys can add value in terms of applicability and acceptability of ideas to a larger audience. 
Khandoker Mahmudur Rahman, Assistant Professor, School of Business, United International University, Bangladesh - May 3, 2010
 
 Social media is fine for a general feedback from the consumer. But for a more target specific and indepth motivational research where even by observation of the group behaviour one can arrive at key insights- Focus Group becomes indispensible.
 
Shiva Prakash, Brand Consultant, Strategic Brand Communications Consultancy - May 4, 2010
 
 The problem with focus groups is that too often the contributers may not have actually used the product or service they are being asked about. At least with social media if someone is taking it upon themselves to offer an opinion, it is likely this opinion is on something they know, rather than just offering an opinion in exchange for a slice of cake and a warm room. However, less specific questions means that it can be difficult to amalgamate and benchmark responses. Social media is however heading the right way in terms of numbers - how brands make decisions based upon the feedback of 6 people in a focus group strikes me as very risky. 
Francesca Baker, Business Consultant, dunnhumby - May 4, 2010
 
 Traditional focus groups have many known problems, including finding a truly representative sample -- and then getting them to actually tell you the truth. Not what they think you want to hear, not what other people in the room will find acceptable, not what will be least embarrassing to be recorded on video for all posterity -- but, their deep-down true emotional reactions that will one day drive their buying behavior. Often they don't even know, so how can they share it with you?Consequently, it makes the ease and scope of using social media as a research lab an attractive alternative. But, just because people use social media, it doesn't make them any smarter or any more honest. And even though we think that social media users must represent a broad cross-section of the population, active users actually have a lot more in common than we would like to think.Sometimes, the best research may come from avoiding opinion sampling entirely. 
Gunnar Loy, Executive Creative Director, Triibe - May 4, 2010
 
 Social Media defenitely scores more than the FG, as the FG more or less ends up with a spiral of silence which is the complete opposite of the likes of Social media. Online classrooms are a classic example where individuals do not hesitate before they voice out their opninion, as compared to the traditional ones. With social media, we also brake barriers geographically, as a participant could be sitting in the remotest of the village and participate in the discussion at the same time.REAL TIME! 
Zoheb Shah, Manager Brand Communication, Mudra Max India - May 4, 2010
 
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